Philippic against the book cost

Good day everyone, I’m Elena and thanks for being here on Alessandro III di Macedonia- Alexander the great and Hellenism. Today I’d like to talk to you of a topic that is close to my heart because there lies the (true) research that can be done on Alexander the Great.

For a fan of Alexander the Great like me who isn’t satisfied with the generalist books and novels that come out (only in Italian) but who instead wallows in the beauty of the analyzes and debates between scholars, researchers and academics, buy the books can prove very expensive.

From my experience, most foreign scholars publish with publishers that reading one of their books is a pleasure: Brill, Oxford University Press, Peters, Franz Steiner Verlag, Cambridge University Press, I. B. Tauris, Harrassowitz Verlag, Peter Lang, Bloomsbury, … are all publishers who publish books that are real gems: of an incredible level of research and analysis (among the Italian authors I mention Fabrizio Serra Editore, L’Erma di Bretschneider and others). You can find these books in major university libraries around the world, so they have an undisputed level of research importance. The problem with these jewel books is that they are a jewel for the contents they contain but they also cost almost as much as a jewel. Average price 100 € – 100 £ – 100 $. Why?? Isn’t it about printed paper? They are already books aimed at a small audience, made up of specialists, academics, students and researchers, but if an ordinary person like me wants to buy them, he can only do so by waiting for the paperback editions to be discounted and maybe for some books you have to wait years to get them and find them in any case at a price, let’s say, accessible even if higher than normal books.

I understand that the average reader usually has access to these texts through a university library which is probably part of his university and which is therefore equipped with these specimens, but what about any reader from a small provincial town? And why should these texts be exclusive or almost exclusive to university libraries? Is there an unwritten rule? Ah, yes, the price. It’s true that disadvantaged readers like me are a small part of the whole, I myself know very few other Alexander enthusiasts who also read this kind of book, but if they cost less they would probably have a better market. Because once you discover such books, you want to keep reading them.

In my ongoing book research I have noticed that Spanish publishers do indeed charge normal prices but you need to be able to read Spanish while publishers publishing in English charge exorbitant prices. By now reading a certain type of book is fundamental to me because the level of research, analysis, study of sources, debate among scholars, has no equal in other books. Unfortunately, however, it’s really difficult to be able to buy them. It’s also true that these publishers make quite quickly a digital version of the book available, but for someone like me (and once again I want to complicate my life) who loves books and reading in general and “collects books” on Alexander and Hellenism I wish to have in my “personal library” books in paper edition.

Another thing I fail to understand is that many of these publishers rely on the Amazon printing house for paperbacks but, despite this and despite the fact that the book is practically print on demand, the price is still high. It seems that these publishers want to discourage the average reader from reading their books. And once again I don’t understand why it should be so expensive to be able to buy certain books.

I can assure you if you read a book from these publishers it won’t be a bad or useless read but will indeed be full of further ideas research and analysis. Simply put, some of the things I read in these books I only find in these books. And it’s a real shame because in my opinion Alexander’s beauty lies precisely in this, in analyzing the sources and in understanding how some may perhaps be the subsequent reworking of others and many other topics. The truly beautiful thing about Alexander the Great can be found in these readings, for which unfortunately knowing how to read English is also taken for granted, but this is another topic because the vast majority of Italian publishers seem to only know the Roman world and aren’t interested in that Greek.